As they butchered their way towards the interior, their levels slowly rose. Over that one day, they both gained two levels, enough to justify the stops that they had made to fight the monsters along the way. The opportunities for levels were just too easy to not avail of.

This trickle of essence slowly grew and grew as they traveled, and by the end of the fifth day, Jonathan was standing at level 161, having gained six levels from the journey. With the boosts from his new race, he was gaining free stat points at a rapid rate, and the only thing that remained was to decide on what to do with them. His next stat to cross a threshold naturally would be Resilience, which happened to be the one that he wanted anyway. With the trifecta of Resilience, Strength and Dexterity, he would be strong, fast and highly durable. They would also serve to offset each other’s downsides.

One day, there was a break in the monotony, a strange rock formation that jutted out of the ground in front of them. It looked like an obsidian tower, but it blazed with a magical energy signature beyond anything that Jonathan had ever seen in this realm. It was hundreds of feet in height, and had dozens of floors. Even from here, he could tell that it was heavily enchanted with Dark elemental energy, likely to add some sort of spatial expansion to the floors within.

“Any idea what that might be?” Jonathan asked.

“Beyond the obvious shape, I’m afraid not. Should we check it out? I do not believe that it seems obviously harmful.”

“That would be a good idea. I’ll go first then, seeing as I’m the most durable.”

Jonathan started walking towards the tower, and Edgar cast some of his buff spells. Jonathan felt the power settle onto his shoulders, and he smiled. As he approached the tower, the scent of magic grew thicker and thicker, until he found himself standing in a well of elemental energy near the base of the tower. He took the last few steps and laid a hand on the side. Immediately, he was met with a System notification.

You have discovered one of the three dungeons of Tartarus!

The Tower of Endless Twilight

Drawing upon the power of the conceptual darkness of Tartarus, this dungeon is filled with the twisted forms of many of the common monsters that live in this realm. With the final boss being a near peak Tier 2 monster, this dungeon is not to be taken lightly. This dungeon manifests itself as a tower of ever increasing difficulty, with an average level of 175, the same as the realm of Tartarus itself. There are fifty floors. This dungeon may only be entered by a being not native to this realm, and only one dungeon for this realm can be entered.

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Jonathan withdrew his hand. It looked safe enough. He signaled for Edgar to come over, already heading towards the entrance. A large archway stood on the other side of the building, with an ornate design twisting and turning around its form. Strange animals could be seen galloping in a never ending circle, and lava flows wended their way down the rock. The entrance was about a dozen feet wide, and the interior was filled with darkness.

With a glance at Edgar, Jonathan stepped in, shortly followed by the other man. There was a flash of blackness, and then they were standing in the entrance to a massive room, supported by pillars of black rock. It was filled with monsters, in a variety of poses and situations. All of them were grotesquely twisted versions of the common beasts of the realm, and the floor was bathed in shadow, far more than was normally present. However, Jonathan’s senses were more than enough to pierce the darkness.

Edgar had a little bit more trouble, but the man still had an upgraded race, and he was able to see, albeit a bit less than normal. The area that they were in seemed to be some sort of safe zone, devoid of all monsters. Judging by the size of the cavern however, they were going to need all the rest they could get. It was easily a dozen miles in width, almost like a miniature dungeon in and of itself. There were many more floors however. This dungeon was going to take a while. In a world made solely for progression and training, even the dungeons were supercharged.

Without any further delay, the two men walked into the dungeon, and out of the safe zone. Immediately, they were beset by a small horde of monsters, each of which was so twisted that it was impossible to tell their original form. They looked somewhat like wolves, if wolves were pitch black and had more than the normal amount of limbs. Instead of worrying about that, Jonathan simply laid into the monsters with his gauntlets.

As one of them came leaping for his throat, he sidestepped, and drove a gauntlet into the monster’s side. There was a crack, and disgustingly clotted blood exploded outwards, soaking the rock beneath. Even the internal organs of the monsters seemed to have been tainted by shadow. As the monster died, folded in half around Jonathan’s fist, it continued to snarl rabidly. It was at the lower end of the level spectrum, and the essence that it provided was minimal.

Jonathan threw the corpse into the nearest knot of monsters, and then charged in after it, leaping into the air. Sending Voidlight to his fists, he brought them down in a brutal hammerblow, sending his power pulsing through flesh, bone and rock. There was an explosion, and the nearest monster bodies detonated, sending fragments of bone and flesh everywhere. A large crater was left in the ground, slowly filling with blood.

Jonathan dodged a strike from a nearby monster, and flipped backwards as one of them charged him from behind. With a grin on his face, he snagged the monster’s fur, gagging a little at how matted and corrupted it was, and dragged it with him. As the monster tumbled head over heels into the air, Jonathan leveraged his new Dexterity, and was able to pinpoint the best spot to strike in the blink of an eye.

A single finger slammed into the monster’s ocular ridge, shattering the bone and sending a shockwave through its head that turned its brain to jelly. As Jonathan landed, the corpse flopped to the ground. However, there were dozens of the creatures, low leveled as they were, and they just kept coming.